Entertain

The 4th of July is the ultimate all ages, all-day outdoor party featuring a smorgasbord of all things red, white, and blue. Here are some fun drinks for kids and grown-ups to enjoy throughout the day.

Red Velvet Cupshakes

I love me some red velvet cake, and of course it’s the perfect color for a 4th of July treat. Since we’re right in the middle of summer, I came up with a twist on the traditional red velvet routine that will cool off any crowd and satisfy everyone’s sweet tooth.

This recipe makes twelve mini-shakes.

Ingredients

For the cupcakes:

Â½ cup unsalted butter, softened

Â½ cup sugar

2 eggs

2 Â½ Tbsp cocoa powder

2 oz red food coloring

2 Â½ cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp salt

1 cup buttermilk

1 tsp white vinegar

1 tsp baking soda

For the shakes:

12 cupcakes (see above)

1 gallon vanilla ice cream

1 quart cream cheese

Â½ gallon milk

2 oz vanilla extract

Red food coloring (optional)

Light rum (optional)

For garnish:

Whipped cream

Red velvet cupcake crumbs

Blueberries

Instructions

For the cupcakes:

Preheat oven to 350

Grease twelve cupcake cups or line with paper liners

Cream softened butter and sugar together until fluffy

Add eggs and blend well

In a separate small bowl, combine cocoa powder and food coloring and stir – once you have a thick paste, add to mixture

Sift flour and salt together into mixture

Add buttermilk to mixture

In a separate small bowl combine vinegar and baking soda – fold into cake mixture

Pour batter into cupcake cups

Bake fifteen to twenty minutes, or until a wooden toothpick inserted into the middle of a cupcake comes out clean

Let cool for ten minutes, then turn out onto wrack and cool completely

Timesaver: buy your fave red velvet mix and knock these out in a few minutes!

For each shake:

Reserve a few cupcake crumbs for garnish

Blend one cupcake in a blender with two scoops of vanilla ice cream, three tablespoons of cream cheese, half a cup of milk, one teaspoon of vanilla extract, and one to two drops of food coloring (if desired)

To adulterize these babies (new word!), add a shot or two of light rum to your mixture in the blender

Blend more or less, depending on whether you want to see cake pieces in your shake or prefer the cake totally blended in

Pour the blended mixture into small glasses or shot glasses, and top with a dollop of whipped cream, a few crumbles of red velvet cupcake, and a bluberry

If you have cute, striped paper straws in red and white or blue and white stripes, cut them in half, and place in your mini-milkshakes.

Mix all ingredients (except mint leaves and club soda) and let soak in the fridge for a couple of hours

Right before you serve, add 1/2 cup club soda

Pour over ice, garnish with a mint leaf, and enjoy!

Berry Ice Cubes

This is an easy way to fancy up any drink from club soda to sprite!

Ingredients

Berries

Water

Sprite, club soda, or sparkling water

Instructions

Fill up an ice cube tray with water

Drop a berry into each compartment in the tray

Freeze and add berry cubes to water or sprite

Kool-Aid Cubes

These are a simple and sweet treat for the kiddies. Just fill an ice tray with different flavors of Kool-Aid, like cherry or tropical punch, freeze overnight, and add the Kool-Aid cubes to sprite or sparkling water. Your kids will love these even more if you use novelty ice trays with fun shapes like stars or circus animals.

Voila ….red, white, and blue beverages for all!

Tomorrow I’ll share some ideas for 4th of July food, so stay tuned! What kind of drinks do you plan to serve this weekend?

Related Posts

Red Velvet cup shakes! sound amazing! I can not wait to try them! going home to bake them up now!

Richel Newborg

What great ideas! I also recently saw a recipe for jello shots that you actually make in the middle of a strawberry! You just make a regular batch of jello shots with what ever spirits you choose, use a pairing knife to hollow out the middle of the strawberry and then place them in a muffin tin or ice cube tray in the “up right” position. Then spoon in the jello shot mixture and chill till firm! It was such a clever idea!!!!

The ice cubes that you show are wonderful! They might be cute any time of year!

Great ideas Tori!

Carolyn Roberson

And this is just ONE of the many reasons we LOVE Tori! So creative…

Terry Macri

The berry ice cubes are just the cutest!!

Jenna Stafford

you always make me want to have parties! i must plan one soon!

Julie Murphy

I’m at a extremely small Air Force station in the middle of no-where Northern North Dakota and we have a couple potlucks a month. I love getting new ideas for our parties. I’m going to make a pitcher of your Sangia for the next one. Keep up the good work! It’s much appreciated.

Suzanne Brown

Wait, wait wait!!!! JUST saw these berry ice cubes on the Vanessa and Nick Lache Wedding special!! They had them at her bridal shower! L.O.V.E.